For the past 6 months I have been travelling with my toddler Madi between Edmonton and Atlanta (We live in Atlanta for 4 weeks and then I work in Edmonton for 2 weeks at a time). What I learned is that travelling and time changes can affect your babies sleep. Even a 2 hour time difference (difference between Atlanta and Edmonton) can have a big…

If your reading this article, you’ve probably heard of sleep training and considered if it is the right idea for your family. I wanted to start off by saying that sleep training is a hot topic in the Mom community, and some may even consider it controversial. For me, sleep training is a personal decision that was effective for our family to get our baby to sleep….

As a physician I tell patient’s that it is safe to sleep train starting at 4-6 months as long as the infant has no concerns with growth and development. I only started sleep training Madi at 11 months event though I knew it was safe to start earlier. I knew it was safe to start sleep training Madi earlier, but struggled with hearing her cry during the process….

Child Wellness

Life of Dr. Mom recognizes that the modern mom wants to be well-informed. With professional experience in postnatal care, mental health, and Pediatrics, Dr. Mom works to educate the modern mom with the most relevant up-to-date medical evidence to support Child Wellness.

How does travelling and time changes affect a toddlers sleep.

Dr. Mom explores how travelling and time changes affect toddlers sleep and how to avoid sleep deprivation.

For the past 6 months I have been travelling with my toddler Madi between Edmonton and Atlanta (We live in Atlanta for 4 weeks and then I work in Edmonton for 2 weeks at a time). What I learned is that travelling and time changes can affect your babies sleep. Even a 2 hour time difference (difference between Atlanta and Edmonton) can have a big impact on your toddlers nap times and night time sleep. There is not a lot of medical literature out there surrounding changing your toddlers nap time when travelling, so I am sharing my personal experience as to what worked for me as a Mom. If your also struggling with getting your toddler to have one nap per day, instead of two, check out my other article for some tips.

Flying from Edmonton to Atlanta
doesn’t cause much difficulty despite the 2 hour time difference because we
allow Madi to go to sleep at her typical Edmonton bed time (8:30pm) which is
10:30pm Atlanta time. Once we arrive in Atlanta, we gradually put her to
bed earlier and earlier, over the course of 2 weeks. This is so that she
ends up going to sleep at 8:30pm Atlanta time (her normal bedtime). One
personal trick that I have found is I try to do more physical activities like
swimming, a prolonged bath time, or running around in the park to try to
physically tire her out before bedtime. This helps her fall asleep more
easily.

Flying from Atlanta to Edmonton is
the challenging part. Unfortunately, the majority of flights from Atlanta to
Edmonton arrive in the later evening – 8pm/9pm (10/11pm Atlanta time). If she
falls asleep at her normal bedtime on the flight, I let her sleep as long as
she can. When she wakes up she is extremely grumpy (similar to how I am
when I am awoken in the middle of the night). Once we arrive in Edmonton, I act
like it is daytime and try to energize her by being silly and singing our
favourite songs. By the time we get our luggage, go through customs and get to
our house it typically takes 1.5 hours (~11pm Edmonton time, ~1am Atlanta
time). Once we arrive at our house, I let her play for 30 minutes and then we
do our normal bedtime routine (see link). The addition of the bedtime routine
has made the biggest difference in Madi being able to have a reasonable sleep
after arriving on a different time zone. I used to be so panicked when we
arrived at our house that I would rush, and quickly put her to bed and found
that she was so amped up from the airport commotion that she wouldn’t be able
to fall asleep.

Once we arrive in Edmonton, the next morning, she typically wakes up at her normal Atlanta time 7am (5am Edmonton Time). Since I don’t want to be on Atlanta time while I’m working in Edmonton, I ask my nanny to gradually try to make her nap time at 11am Edmonton time while I am at work. This is 1pm Atlanta time – which is 1 hour after her normal nap time in Atlanta. With this protocol, I found that within 2-3 days Madi is back on her normal sleep schedule.

Life of Dr. Mom is designed for the modern mom whom struggles with balancing family, work, and fun. With her experience working in women health, postnatal care, mental health, and Pediatrics, Dr. Mom works to educate the modern mom with the most relevant up-to-date medical evidence to support families and the healthy development of their children